Suddenly, AI is everywhere

OpenAI's launch of ChatGPT in November 2022 has spurred a cascade of articles and commentary on artificial intelligence. The discussion, however, reveals how much artificial intelligence is already deployed. Artificial intelligence (AI) is one of those technologies with a long history of disappointment. Dating back to Alan Turing at the start of the theory of computing (or, more technically, computability), interest reached a high point with the development of "expert systems" in the early 1980s. These systems created great excitement about the possibilities of AI, but delivery was disappointing. As a result, histories of AI (see note) refer to the following period as the "AI Winter". Both major parties took policies supporting AI to the last federal election. A survey of voters, even knowledgeable ones, on policy commitments made for that election is unlikely to turn up AI as an important policy position. On the other hand, ChatGPT has been a big story for some of us, with suggestions that it can take over many jobs and concerns about the integrity of academic credentialing.